Symbolism in Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl

The way Ozick uses symbolism is very important to the story. The author uses symbolism to help the reader envision the setting. In the beginning of the story, Ozick refers to the Magda as, "someone who is already a floating angel" (223). Ozick refers to Magda as an angel throughout the story, "smooth feathers of hair nearly as yellow as the Star sewn into Rosa's coat" (223). Also, the talks of the shawl as the "milk of linen" (223). Outside of the steel fences of the concentration camp, "there were green meadows speckled with dandelions and deep-colored violets: beyond them even father, innocent tiger lilies, tall, lifting their orange bonnets" (225). Past the steel fence were beauty or maybe heaven, anything but the poor conditions of the death camp.

Out of the three characters in “The Shawl”, Stella is a flat character. She is only part of the story to allow the author to reach the climax. Coming when Stella becomes cold, and takes the shawl for warmth. Magda is the most dynamic character. She is first presented as a quite baby, who is hungry and does not cry, simply sucking on the shawl. When her shawl is taken, she cries and walks wobbly into the yard. In the yard of the concentration camp, she is picked up and thrown by a guard to her death. Rosa is a flat character; she does not change throughout the story. She tries to keep her family from their impending death. When Magda is killed, she does not run into the yard, knowing she will be shot. So she took Magda’s shawl and drank it until it dried.